Great name you have for them too !

Pamela! Hilarious. I saw that too, so maybe we both have too much time on our hands ? The Rant is one of my favorite sites, anyway.

Danielle: Oh my gosh we need to have a FULL discussion about slugs and how to avoid them. They’re having a feast on the poor peppers in the greenhouse now. The only things that eat my greenhouse spent plants (other than us) are the microbes in the compost heap, sniff. They’re thankful, though, I am sure… I am seriously considering geese with my turkey order just so I can “share” the greenery. That certainly is another post in itself: I keep thinking about your Christmas meal! LOVE goose, will be bringing my husband along in this one too.

I’ve pulled so many plants just to create some breathing room in there–about 5 or 6 big rubbermaid tubs full of them! The upside is that the animals are quite pleased with the greens and don’t mind the slug damage one little bit. In fact, the chickens consider it quite a treat when get a slimy little creature of their very own.

Your dandelion looks great and sounds even better sauted up with garlic. Yum!

Verde: Thank you. It’s so funny: right after I typed this up I heard what I thought was a smoke alarm. It was a bird.

Laura: Losing the lock-up habit was one of the first things to happen. It was (is) still easier to find one’s keys if they’re still in the cars’ ignitions! But yeah. Curtains. IMHO, unnecessary, except maybe on the bathroom window. Half the bathroom window, actually.

Alecto, now that’s just spooky. Your poor girl! I remember taking my girl to Chicago and actually pointing out a bus and singing “The Wheels on the Bus” to her and ding! Light bulb goes off (she was about 18 months). Our city house was actually on a busline, so yeah, she’s lost a lot…in a good way.

Ah Amanda you’ve brought up the dark underbelly to country living: good coffee!!! Luckily we have a friend who’s a hobbyist roaster in Oregon, so we get the greatest stuff shipped to us in the mail in 7 lb boxes. The maillady loves us for that as it stinks up her car something awful. Anyway, we’re on coffee maker #3 now because of our habit, and our mineral-laden water. We ended up getting a reverse osmosis system NOT for our own drinking but for the benefit of the coffee maker. Topsy-turvy world out here! But it’s okay if you lock your car. I have to remember to lock mine now when I go somewhere.

I think I’d move out to the country if I had a coffee house an acre away to walk to. Until then, it’s farming in the city for us.

My MIL was at the house for Mother’s Day and when we went inside she said, “Oh, I better lock my car because my purse is in there!” I told she didn’t need to bother locking her car. She conceded that but still insisted that she better bring any valuables in. I wondered who she thought was going to steal them, the chickens?